District 7's city roads were found to be in pretty decent shape compared with most other districts on the island. Residents there enjoy one of Oahu's higher shares of city roads in "fair" shape or better, at 78.1 percent, and lower percentage of roads in "poor" shape or worse, at 21.9 percent, based on a survey completed late last year.

DISTRICT 7

The district's city roads outperformed conditions islandwide: Some 72.2 percent of all Oahu city roads were found to be fair or better, while 27.8 percent were found to be poor or worse. Only District 8 was found to have a better ratio of good to substandard roads: 81 percent were at least fair, while 18.6 percent were poor or worse.

Smaller neighborhood and industrial blocks —many of them just several hundred feet long — mostly make up District 7's "failed" roads, or the worst of the worst. Failed roads make up a relatively low share of District 7 roads: The survey found 2.7 lane-miles of failed roads there, or about 1.1 percent.

And many of those small failed roads still have not been added to the city's five-year repaving plan.

YOUR COMMENTS

"From what I may recall, this is the first time that taxpayers are provided with so much data as to the conditions of the roadways on Oahu. This is an indication that the past city administrations (elected and appointed) have done a lousy job in keeping our roadways in good rating condition because of funneling taxpayers money on other projects that they were concerned about and in the meantime neglected the conditions of the roadways.

"This is how the roadways became like 3rd world countries. Former incompetent leaders created all this pilikia and now, Mayor Caldwell and his administration must catch up all that was neglected for decades.

"Go mayor and this administration is finally taking care of business that really affects the taxpayers whether it be the bus routes or maintenance of the roadways. Mahalo for taking care of business that other administrations (all talk and no results) neglected for decades."—kahuku01

"Except it's not very good data. I live in district 2 and am familiar with some of those spots mentioned but I can tell you that there are many spots that are much worse than what is mentioned in the ... report. And it remains to be seen if Caldwell will fix the roads. The easy part (talking) is over, now it's time to deliver."—bender

"South Beretania, between Eisenberg and McCully. University Avenue to the State Capitol. Quit talking about it. Fix it..."—Leonard Withington

"Kamehameha Highway... 'nuff said..."—Andrew Takai

THE PAVEMENT CONDITION INDEX

To rate how badly damaged a road's surface is many cities including Honolulu use a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-designed point system. Roads are scored between 0 and 100, 0 being the worst and 100 being the best. The score is calculated mainly using three criteria: the type(s) of damage, how severe the damage is, and how extensive it is.

Because it's a score, there could be different types of damage seen in different categories. Here's a general idea of what drivers can expect.

Click to enlarge the chart.

Click to enlarge the chart.

THE WORST ROADS IN DISTRICT 7

Some roads may have been repaired since the City and County of Honolulu conducted its survey in 2012. An asterisk (*) denotes city road segments that are not listed on the city's repaving schedule. Many of those roads are still in the design phase and will go out to bid for construction within a year, officials say.

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localgirl2wrote:

Oh so many excuses. My name tells you who I am. I don't ever remember such lousy streets in my youth! Seems at I've aged, so have the roads, and I suppose the infrastructure as well. Seems we're both getting older. No excuse however. I remember Frank gave us the parks. Jeremy gave us the pukas but the 'great' stuff in Waikiki, sunset at the beach. The locals need to be cared for.
Let's see what happens.

on April 1,2013 | 05:25AM

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Kawipoowrote:

The problem is the locals are being cared for but not with paving. Hawaii has one of the largest percentage of food stamp and welfare recipients.

on April 1,2013 | 06:01AM

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wilikiwrote:

Baloney... Honolulu streets are in good condition. About as good or better than any other place I've lived.

on April 1,2013 | 06:08AM

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localguywrote:

And that isn't saying much. Streets in HI where you can't find street names and business numbers. Other Honolulu streets have dysfunctional storm drains, the smallest shower sends water flooding into businesses, splashing on to sidewalks. All helping to create more pot holes. Only when you have traveled the world like I have do you realize how backwards the Nei is.

on April 1,2013 | 06:17AM

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wilikiwrote:

Mainly Kauai and the outer islands and California. Kauai and the outer islands are worse while San Jose, Cupertino, etc, South Bay and San Francisco area were about that same as Honolulu. Honolulu is pretty good. You shouldn't consider Honolulu the same as the outer islands where mostly only the state roads are in good condition.

on April 1,2013 | 02:39PM

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Publicbraddahwrote:

You must not get out much. Roads have been in disrepair for years. Harris loved to do the window dressing thing and subsequent mayors did next to nothing on city roads. Same thing can be said of our governors and the condition of our freeways.

on April 1,2013 | 07:13AM

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wilikiwrote:

Nope it seems from the maps I've seen in the SA the failed roads are mainly the lesser used roads. And it's pretty obvious from the graphs in the articles here in the SA that repaved roads went to records highs in election years. So the roads are not neglected.

on April 1,2013 | 02:42PM

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Kalaheo1wrote:

wiliki wrote: "Baloney... Honolulu streets are in good condition. About as good or better than any other place I've lived."

You realize that no one, NO ONE!, besides you is claiming that Honolulu roads are in good condition. Not Mayor Caldwell, not the Star-Advertiser and certainly not the people who live here who use these terribly built and poorly maintained roads.

Where did you come from where the roads were worse than here?

on April 1,2013 | 08:34AM

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wilikiwrote:

Ask people from the outer islands. Generally the county roads are less well maintained that the state roads, and not as good as Honolulu-- depending on where you live.

on April 1,2013 | 02:43PM

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Kalaheo1wrote:

You are WRONG! The roads on Maui and Kauai are a 1000% better than Oahu's. There's no excuse for the mess here.

on April 1,2013 | 05:26PM

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Kuniarrwrote:

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on April 1,2013 | 10:12AM

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wilikiwrote:

Nope I think that my personal experience matches the Honolulu report.

on April 1,2013 | 02:44PM

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from_da_cheapseatswrote:

Reporter needs to describe the survey methodolgy for me to take this seriously. Especially since District 7 has whole neighborhoods of roads that are unpaved, around Bannister street.

on April 1,2013 | 04:38PM

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MakaniKaiwrote:

Excellent post localgirl2. I too remember smooth roads “many moons ago”. I drive a short yet heavily traveled section of Kamehameha Hwy between Lanikuhana and Ka Uka (serious to failed category) six days a week and in the past eleven years no maintenance to speak of. Sometimes a patch here; patch there that’s it! MAHALO state and C/C government! Please tell us where our kala was spent from gas and vehicle weight taxes……….surely not road maintenance. Both owe us smooth roads and answers! Don’t hold your breath. Aloha.

on April 1,2013 | 07:56AM

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alliewrote:

I agree...pols have been ripping you poor people off for years

on April 1,2013 | 08:01AM

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wilikiwrote:

It looks like the failed road will be scheduled for bidding. This is a sign of good road management. the outer island county roads are much worse than Honolulu's. About 40 years ago when I lived on Kauai, almost all the county roads seemed to be failing roads. Only the Lihue streets seemed to be decent and those in new developments like in Kapahi.

on April 1,2013 | 06:07AM

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Kalaheo1wrote:

wiliki wrote: "It looks like the failed road will be scheduled for bidding. This is a sign of good road management. the outer island county roads are much worse than Honolulu's. About 40 years ago when I lived on Kauai, almost all the county roads seemed to be failing roads."

Seriously? The roads on Kauai are beautiful! Smooth as glass from Ke'e to Koke'e. And when they do need to dig into the road, they fix it better than it was before.

Honolulu could could learn a lot from how Kauai cares for its roads.

on April 1,2013 | 08:43AM

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wilikiwrote:

The good roads on Kauai are state roads. That's also true of the other outer islands as well. The state does an outstanding job with state roads-- even better than Honolulu.

on April 1,2013 | 02:35PM

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Kalaheo1wrote:

wiliki wrote: "The good roads on Kauai are state roads. That's also true of the other outer islands as well. The state does an outstanding job with state roads-- even better than Honolulu."

Wait. So now you're taking the position that Oahu's roads are good? You get sillier and sillier every day. No one thinks Oahu's roads are good. Remember last week when you were so gung-ho about increasing taxes to repair them?

You should visit Kauai and Maui and see what roads are supposed to look like.

on April 1,2013 | 05:29PM

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Kuniarrwrote:

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on April 1,2013 | 10:14AM

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wilikiwrote:

The SA is saying the same. I'm quoting from them.

on April 1,2013 | 02:36PM

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localguywrote:

Looking at the photos you would think they were roads in a 4th world country. Than you realize they are, the little 4th world of Hawaii Nei with dysfunctional bureaucrats who raid road maintenance funds every time they willfully fail to do their jobs. And for our dysfunctional road repair companies and workers who just want to slop it down, get paid, and repeat the process, keeping their rice bowl full. Will the Nei ever join countries like Japan with world class roads? If past performance is any clue, not going to happen. Even our new mayor just doesn't get it when he too is shown doing a slop/shovel job over worthless asphalt, a photo op showing pure incompetence. This is what our bureaucrats do, fail us over and over.

on April 1,2013 | 06:14AM

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Wazdatwrote:

so true

on April 1,2013 | 06:20AM

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Kalaheo1wrote:

Have you been to Kauai or Maui lately. Their roads are solidly built and beautifully maintained.

on April 1,2013 | 11:56AM

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localguywrote:

Oahu road maintenance companies and workers do not agree with this. They think the roads need to be torn apart and redone to match Oahu standards. They have no idea who is doing this road work.

on April 1,2013 | 04:54PM

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Kalaheo1wrote:

It is very sad and so unnecessary.

I thought Oahu might be using defective or diluted asphalt, but the outer islands manage to take the same stuff and build good, smooth roads with it. It has to be the workers and their supervisors who fail us.

on April 1,2013 | 05:31PM

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Mahalowrote:

Why are we spending money on time to make reports and present these reports and pat each other on the backs about these reports instead of just fixing the roads?

on April 1,2013 | 10:29AM

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Wazdatwrote:

above average on oahu does not mean much

on April 1,2013 | 11:02AM

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Kuniarrwrote:

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on April 1,2013 | 11:19AM

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Imagenwrote:

Impossible Kuniarr - simply not happening...

on April 1,2013 | 11:59AM

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from_da_cheapseatswrote:

Reporter needs to describe the survey methodolgy for me to take this seriously. Especially since District 7 has whole neighborhoods of roads that are unpaved, around Bannister street.